"no rational creature can be supposed to change his condition with an intention to be worse"
John Locke The Second Treatise of Government
"It is no more admirable to have valuable suggestions to make and not put them into circulation than it is to have a valuable coin of the realm and keep it stuffed into a greasy old stocking."
G.K. Chesterton, “The Walking Paradox,” in Alberto Manguel, ed., On Lying in Bed and Other Essays by G.K. Chesterton
"I owe my success to having listened respectfully to the very best advice, and then going away and doing the exact opposite."
G. K. Chesterton, quoted by Jeff Hayden on Inc. online (www.inc.com/jeff-haden/top-350-inspiring-motivational-quotes-to-tweet-and-share.html) them, but most important, use them to motivate you to reach the heights you dream of reaching.”
"You say you want man to be to himself what God has been to man. But what God has been to man is man’s absolute superior, and man cannot be his own superior…. So when you say you want man to be to himself what God has been to man hitherto, you mean you want some men to be to other men what God has been to man. You want some men to be the absolute superiors of others. I assume that you want to be in the former group and not in the latter."
J. Budziszewski in What We Can’t Not Know [part of his Platonic dialogue with a skeptic].
"When Danish dramatist and poet Baron Ludwig Holbert (1684-1754) was asked by a scoffer 'Do you call that thing on your head a hat?' he replied: 'Do you call that thing under your hat a head?'"
"Thought du jour" in "Social Studies" in Globe and Mail November 17, 2003 p. A14.
"'Don’t you swelter all day in the sun?’ Epictetus asked rhetorically [comparing watching the logistically nightmarish ancient Olympic games to life generally]. 'Aren’t you jammed in with the crowds? Isn’t it hard to get a bath? Aren’t you soaked to the bone whenever it rains? Don’t the din and the shouting and the petty annoyances drive you completely mad? But of course you put up with it all because it’s an unforgettable spectacle.'"
Tony Perrottet, author of The Naked Olympics, in Ottawa Citizen July 17, 2004
In some sense the French Revolution was “the black desperate battle of Men against their whole Condition and Environment, - a battle, alas, withal, against the Sin and Darkness that was in themselves as in others: this is the Reign of Terror."
Thomas Carlyle The French Revolution
“we do not ask whether interventionism is good or bad, moral or immoral, to be commended or condemned. We merely ask from the standpoint of those who want to put it into operation whether it serves or frustrates their intentions. In other words, does its application attain the ends sought?"
Ludwig von Mises Interventionism